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Despite Washington's criticism on Jewish settlement activities in East Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Washington on Monday that Jerusalem was not a settlement, but the eternal capital of Israel.
"The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It's our capital," Netanyahu told the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most influential America's bi-partisan pro-Israel lobby group.
Netanyahu arrived there on Monday afternoon, in an effort to relief tensions with the Obama administration, who was angered by Israel's plan for building more houses for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem.
Jewish "neighborhoods" in East Jerusalem which was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War are considered by the international community as Jewish settlements.
In 1980, the Israeli parliament, or the Knesset, passed the basic law of "Jerusalem, capital of Israel," claiming the complete and united Jerusalem is Israel's eternal capital.
The status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues. Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem has not been internationally recognized, and the Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
PHOTO CAPTION
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington on March 22, 2010.
Agencies
